The CaFE Process

The CaFE process is where the idea for The Strategy CaFE began.

Following a very successful MBA research project, it became clear that “Issues Based” approaches to strategy development and review were highly effective, however, silences in the “narratives” suggested that in smaller organisations there was either a lack of representation, appreciation or skill in some issue areas.

The CaFE process has been created to address these issues by providing a structured / prompted “Issues Based” approach to support strategy development and strategy review that works effectively for experienced, inexperienced and would be business people.

The process privelidges individual skills and preferences and leads participants on a journey through the issues that their current business is facing or that their intended business might face.

The process has been tested with a range of individuals and groups and has been found to provide a more thorough consideration of current and potential future issues than traditional “functionalist” approaches to business start-up and “open ended” issue mapping approaches to business strategy review.

The CaFE process helps participants explore or examine their chosen enterprise using a heuristic that we often refer to as the 7 C’s, in the process providing challenge in a safe and controlled manner to help evolve a congruent and balanced picture of the future business with actionable recommendations for start-up or change.

This consideration of the enterprise as a Concept model using simple grounded metaphors for the key issue sets has proven highly effective.

Placing this aside a consideration of organisational purpose, the 3 critical success factors of business and following through on an evolving and recursive series of steps has led to the creation of The 7 Step Start-up process.

The Strategy CaFE provides support, facilitation and training at reasonable cost to businesses. We also offers free support to a number of would be and nascent entrepreneurs as a means of developing our practice and extending our learning.